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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its final rule for the 2020 Renewable Fuel Standard blending requirements that kept the door open for the continuation of Small Refinery Exemptions.
The key elements of today’s action are as follows:
• “Conventional” biofuel volumes, primarily met by corn ethanol, will be maintained at the 15-billion-gallon target set by Congress for 2020.
• Cellulosic biofuel volumes for 2020, and thus advanced biofuel volumes, will increase by almost 170 million gallons over the 2019 standard.
• Biomass-based diesel volumes for 2021 will be equivalent to the standard for 2020, still more than double the statutory requirement.
• EPA will closely examine the labeling requirements for E15 fuel and move forward with clarifying regulations as needed.
Through this rule, EPA modified the RFS program by projecting small refinery relief to ensure that these final volumes are met, while adjudicating small refinery relief when appropriate.
As proposed, EPA finalized a projection methodology based on the 2016-2018 annual average of exempted volumes had EPA strictly followed the Department of Energy recommendations of 770 million Renewable Identification Numbers in those years, including granting 50% relief where DOE recommended 50% relief.
“This is our general approach to adjudicating Small Refinery Exemption petitions going forward, beginning with 2019 SRE petitions and including 2020 SRE petitions and beyond, we are committed to following the DOE recommendations. By proposing effectively 15.8 billion gallons for 2020 we will ensure meeting our target of 15 billion gallons,” EPA noted in a statement.
Biofuel industry and farm organization representatives refuted EPA’s claims in the ruling and expressed disappointment that the final rule uses a three-year average of DOE-recommended waivers as an estimate for 2020 waivers rather than the average of actual gallons waived by the EPA through Small Refinery Exemptions.
Critics said the ruling is problematic because DOE’s projections for the volume of biofuels that will be exempted are often much lower than the actual SRE exemptions.
Between 2013 and 2015, EPA granted no more than eight small refinery waivers per year. The current administration retroactively approved 19 waivers for 2016, granted 35 waivers in 2017 and another 31 in 2018 — ultimately exempting more than 4 billion gallons of renewable fuel obligations over the past three years.
Before the current administration took office, EPA approved between 50% and 62% of the applications. Under this administration, EPA approved 95% of the exemptions requested in 2016 and 2017 and 74% of the petitions in 2018 — after prolonged pushback from key agriculture and biofuel industry stakeholders, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Here’s what others are saying about EPA’s final RFS volumes for 2020:
“Through President Trump’s leadership, this administration continues to promote domestic ethanol and biodiesel production, supporting our nation’s farmers and providing greater energy security. President Trump committed to our nation’s farmers that biofuel requirements would be expanded in 2020. At the EPA, we are delivering on that promise and ensuring a net of 15 billion gallons of conventional biofuel are blended into the nation’s fuel supply.”
Andrew Wheeler, administrator
Environmental Protection Agency
“After EPA’s overwrought abuse of the SRE program in recent years, agency officials had a chance to finally make things right with this final rule — but they blew it. EPA’s rule fails to deliver on President Trump’s commitment to restore integrity to the RFS, and it fails to provide the market certainty desperately needed by ethanol producers, farmers, and consumers looking for lower-cost, cleaner fuel options. While the final rule is an improvement over the original proposal, it still does not guarantee that the law’s 15-billion-gallon conventional biofuel blending requirement will be fully enforced by EPA in 2020.”
Geoff Cooper, president and CEO
Renewable Fuels Association
“The EPA has ignored the request of corn farmers across America by issuing a final rule that does not reallocate actual waived ethanol gallons. This is disappointing. The final rule does offer a process for reallocating waived gallons that is better than previous years. We continue to look to the administration to address the regulatory barriers to higher blends of ethanol that we assumed were included in President Trump’s promise to farmers but have yet to see articulated in any rulemaking process.”
Bill Leigh, president
Illinois Corn Growers Association
“Family farmers are sick and tired of this biofuels bait and switch. Long before he was elected, President Trump promised to support the American ethanol industry, yet his EPA has done nothing but undermine its success. By indiscriminately granting so-called ‘hardship exemptions’ to multi-billion-dollar oil corporations, this administration has cost hardworking family farmers billions of dollars in lost sales, eliminated thousands of jobs, and slowed economic growth in rural communities across the country.”
Rob Larew, vice president of public policy and communications
National Farmers Union
“Integrity is restored to the RFS only if the agency accurately accounts for exemptions it will grant. The rule uses an accounting formula based on Department of Energy recommendations, which EPA has a poor track record of following. All eyes will now be on EPA’s next round of refinery exemptions and future targets, which will signal whether Administrator Wheeler is truly committed to ending demand destruction.”
Emily Skor, CEO
Growth Energy
“Over the course of the past few months, we’ve gone from promises of a ‘giant package’ to the reality of a lump of coal. To say we are disappointed is an understatement. While it was well understood this rulemaking would not make farmers and the ethanol industry ‘whole’ for the damage EPA has done by abusing the small refinery exemption provision of the RFS, we were led to believe the rule would represent a step in the right direction, an opportunity to account in a meaningful way for refinery waivers.”
Brian Jennings, CEO
American Coalition for Ethanol
“Illinois farmers expected more than what EPA managed to deliver in its final supplemental rule. More than 1,600 Farm Bureau members told the agency in person and in writing that maintaining the integrity of the RFS only occurs by replacing each and every gallon in the annual Renewable Volume Obligation that is waived for the benefit of small oil refiners. The EPA seems to be missing a real opportunity to rebuild trust with farmers and the biofuels industry.”
Richard Guebert Jr., president
Illinois Farm Bureau